Business Directories

Surveys should deliver better insights: expert

Dubai, March 19, 2014

Marketers are being urged to optimise their survey design in order to deliver better insights into what people do, said an expert.

Steve Hamilton-Clark, CEO of TNS Mena, a leading custom market research organisation, said that a recent research was aimed at revealing the reasons behind the mismatch between what people say and what they do, and how these insights can support clients in their decision-making geared to growth.

The programee used more than 300,000 consumer conversations spanning more than 120 brands, over 45 FMCG, durable and financial categories across the GCC region.

“These conversations have given us key behavioural and attitudinal metrics on which marketing strategies can be based,” said Hamilton-Clark.

One such insight is known as the ‘Rule of Four’ which explains the cognitive limits humans are challenged with when faced with complex choices, irrespective of the market category and its size, he said.

“Both marketers and researchers need to appreciate the fact that we are born with a unique fingerprint, constrained by bounded rationality, and employ quick decision-making aids to optimise our choices. In fact we can on average only hold about four brands in our mind,” said Hamilton-Clark.

“Our study reveals why traditional research approaches sometimes fail to provide true direction, and why advances in psychology, neuroscience, and most recently, behavioural economics, help in understanding human decision making behaviour more accurately,” he added. - TradeArabia News Service